Mr. garza bought 2 1/2 pounds of potatoes one evening. his family .75 of the potatoes for dinner on the same evening. if there are five members in the family and they all ate an equal portion of the potatoes at dinner, how much did they eat?

the given 6 = w/p is equivalent to 6p = w, where w is the total area of the walls and p is the area covered by a single can of paint.

knowing that 6 cans of paint will be needed, 6p = w becomes 6(6) = w = 36.   this tells us that the total area to be painted is 36 square units.